Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

by **Mundeo** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:41 pm

The Grand Adventure

TS Vingilot

"To some of you, this might be magic" The Wanderer explained. "But to me, it's science, some of the best technology that you can find in all of the Multiverse. There's a lot that the Vingilot can do, but what is important is that she can seamlessly travel through time and space... and dimensions" He seemed completely content with gloating, looking towards the console with pride. "Type 95 is her model number, but to me, she's one of a kind"

With a wide grin on his face, the Wanderer turned back to his passengers. "I have some ideas of my own, but I am more than open to your own ideas. Perhaps there's a story, or a movie, or a television show, or a video game that you've always wanted to see in reality with your own two eyes?

The Multiverse’s Most Dangerous Game

TARGET: GODZILLA
LOCATION: INKOPOLIS

These kids were strange.

Ramus Maren? That name sounded far to similar to her own. Samus wasn't too surprised by that, though; after all, in the grand scheme of the Multiverse, she had everything to expect. What caught her off guard, however, were the corpse weapons.

"Weapons from corpses?" She asked, curious and concerned. "How do you do that?"

Before she can get a response, an aircraft arrived on the scene. It reminded Samus of some of the ancient vehicles used by humans that she had learned about. She climbed on board without hesitation, gesturing to the teens for them to follow.

Castlevania
The Throne Room

The door burst open, letting the night air rush into the chamber. Four figures that stood on the other side: Grant Danasty, a vagrant who seeks revolution; Adrian Tepes, who calls himself Alucard and seeks justice; Sypha Belnades, a magician who seeks protection of the innocent; and Trevor Belmont, a vampire hunter who seeks vengence. Moonlight flooded the darkened room, casting its ghostly light on the throne, and the creature the four are here to defeat. This was Count Vlad Tepes: Dracula.

"So, you finally arrive" The vampire said, swirling the glass of wine in his hand. "Took you long enough. For a moment I thought you wouldn't make it"

"It's time for you to die, monster" Trevor declared, unholstering his whip. It wasn't any ordinary whip, but Vampire Killer, a sacred weapon passed down the generations of the Belmont family, blessed with the power to slay unholy screatures. "The likes of you doesn't belong in this world"

"Your shallow words mean nothing to me" Dracula hissed, baring his fangs. "It is you who shall die here, the last of the Belmont clan, and who else?" His piercing gaze scanned the other three who shadowed his doorway. "Some ruffian, a witch, and you" His gaze stopped when it met Alucard, and his eyes filled with a burning hatred. "To think that my own son would betray me"

"This is not what mother would have wanted" Alucard stated, his own glare locking with his father's. "She strived to serve and advance humanity, not slaughter it"

"Humanity?" Dracula echoed. "Yes, humans. Lisa wanted to help humans with science. She devoted her heart and soul to her cause. And what did humans give back to her in return?"

"They burned her at the stake!" The vampire snarled and threw the wineglass. It shattered against the wall, its sanguine contents dripping slowly back towards the floor. "She gave humanity everything, and they took her life! She was the only reason I continued to spare humanity, and they killed her!"

"So you unleash an army of the damned upon Wallachia?" Alucard stepped forward. In the darkness of the chamber, the two looked nearly identical. "You killed hundreds of innocents who were just like her!"

"There are no innocents! Anyone could have stood up and said 'No, we will not behave like animals', but they all watched her burn! All of humanity must burn!"

"Adrian" Sypha turned to Alucard. "There is no use arguing with him. He is long since lost. The only thing we can do now is defeat him before he destroys all of Wallachia!"

"I've heard enough of all of you!" Dracula rose from his throne, the moonlight striking his pale grimace. "It is time for you to die"

"Have at you!"

by **Naval Monte** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:33 pm

Secrets of the Raven

"It's alright kid I get what you mean, I'm just messing with you." she told Kyle as she placed her hand behind her head, raising one leg and having it rest on top of the other. As Elizabeth watch the duo she can see Jackie's aura constantly changing based on whatever mental dialogue she was having with herself. "I wonder what is going in her head besides questioning her own existence?" Elizabeth toyed with the idea of trying to trigger her empathetic link and let it enter the mind link form. But the idea was quickly shot down once she recalled all of the past troubles and headaches she had dealt with because of the two side effects to her aura sight.

Elizabeth let her head rest on the couch as she can hear the rain pounding against the glass of the window and can still hear cars, buses, trucks, and streetcars outside still going on their normal routine. Yet she didn't let herself relax to the ambient noises coming from outside as she used her phone to take pictures of Jackie and Kyle. "Maybe it's a bit exploitative but it's all relative love. As I see it you two are not only in a new world with no idea where you are or how things work here but your main goal of killing Sterling is done. I'm just giving you two something to do now that your main mission is over and help you guys not only survive in my world but also make you two and everyone here into heroes by saving the people of this town from some deranged cult. Besides having you lot here would save me a lot of time with some of the more minor stuff that I need to do in this town."

When Kyle and Jackie began to talk about their backstories Elizabeth joined in. "I agree with Jackie here. I think the idea of you two being related won't work and the third world country angle could work. Now I think you two should be friends or even lovers who fled your home land not only because of dead parents but because of the war that took your parents from you. There is a migrant crisis going on because there is a region of the world filled with wars that are forcing people out of their home land and to flood other nations, mostly those of Europe because they are close by." she told the two.

Elizabeth got up and walked to the table where her laptop was on. Turning on the device and typing in her password it didn't take long for the machine to be ready to be used. "You guys can use the Internet to search for information about my world so not only you would some grasps on where you are but to also help out with your backstory. Just avoid looking up my internet history, I rather not make things awkward for us on the first day." she told the group, slightly teasing them about her history. Once Sayaka took out and threw her card at the witch she caught, when she took the picture of Sayaka sticking out her tongue at her she couldn't help but to chuckle at the girl's childish act. "Very mature Blueberry."

As Sayaka began to tell her what she wanted in her backstory and gave her another amusing pose Elizabeth not only took a picture of Sayaka in her pose but even laughed at her suggestion. "I'll see if that would pass through but my friend favors fake IDs sounding plausible so you better pray he would find your suggestions believable." Elizabeth walked back to the couch and sat down on it, going through the photos and sending them to her contact follow being taking a picture of the ID and sending the photo to her contact as well. When Alice finally spoke about how her craftsmanship when it comes to making dolls can afford her to get paid by making and sell dolls, she even showed off some of her collection of enchanted dolls. Elizabeth can see the cloud of arcane energy surrounding the dolls and can tell from the aura that while it was magical in nature it felt off in many ways. She found it peculiar on how something can feel both familiar yet alien at the same time. "I'm not much of a fan of dolls as I have dealt with way too many creepy haunted, possessed, and cursed dolls to think of them cute anymore but yours are cute so you did something right there. What do you mean by the seven colours?" the witch asked. When Alice flared up the witch took a picture of Alice in that state quickly.

The witch let a smirk form as Alice had all but admitted that she was in love with another girl back in her home world and that their meeting was no doubt a date for her. "What a shame the multiverse decided to be a clam jammer" When Alice began to tell her about the Youkai in Gensokyo the witch and of this gap youkai who pretty much made the place by creating a boundary between it and the outside world the witch asked. "Why did this Yukari felt that there needed to be a separate realm for the Youkai? You mention it was done for survival but what was happening to the Youkai that one of their own had to become god and make a whole new world for them?" When Alice asked her if was an expert with curses the witch let out a chuckle. "I suppose it was natural that little act would make someone ask that. Normally i would lie and just say that I don't know real magic and just say that what I did was all an act. The curse that I did was all an act but I am a real witch. So yes I'm an expert on curses since I like to dabble in the dark arts a lot and a good chunk of my cases do deal with the occult and paranormal, that is the reason why I'm even in this town to begin with. Normally as a mage I would keep who I am a secret but since we are going to work together I figure it would be easier in the long run to get that out of the way." she told Alice and everyone in the room.

Now outside of the Drinking Crow the rain return to drench Greed as a cold wind blew against him. The sounds of the rain falling from the sky and the ambient noise of the town surround him as he walked past white phone booths with raven symbols on them, black iron lamp posts, trees with long branches and roots, their branches almost looking like long claws reaching out to grab anything close to them and the roots of the trees and weeds on some buildings looked like tendrils coming out from the Earth. Creeper plants can even be seen on some of the buildings as they cling to the walls of the old buildings.

Greed can see the gas station close by with a few cars parked close by it and a few getting gas. As he walked close to the gas station he would feel that he was being watched, yet should he look around he would find a few old town residents who were giving the obviously outsider weary and unfriendly looks. None did anything to Greed besides giving him suspicious looks. Once Greed enter the gas station he would find that a few people were either waiting in a line in front of the cashier or were looking at the shelves for whatever items they want to buy. He would hear some generic pop music being played at the tv at the cashier counter that everyone in the store was ignoring, though everyone wish that the tv was either at another channel or off so they won't have to hear the god awful music. The facility seem to be modern which would be odd when put together with the much more historical buildings but at this point the architectural anachronism seems to be a recurring feature in the town. Yet Greed can see from the place that even though it was modern the place still appeared to be old to some extent and the cleaning and maintenance only goes as far as making it appear decently presentable to those who enter. The only things that appear to be new are the security cameras inside the store, with one next to an old fan.

Now trapped in the elevator with the soulless man the man, known as John to most, was petrified. He heard stories of how those without souls would eventually degenerate into remorseless and deranged serial killers, how their kind were nothing more but monsters wearing the guise of men. Being trapped in a confined room with such an abomination was the worst possible moment in John's brief life in the occult underground.

When the thing demanded to know who he was John stammered out. "My name is John. I'm no one I swear. Do you want money? Is that what you want? I can give you as much as you want just don't hurt me please." the man pleaded. While Agent A appeared calm to John his mind went to much darker implications for his act, believing that Agent A was planning to brutally murder him in either the elevator or take him to a remote location to do the deed. The two can feel the elevator going up and soon it would stop at the fourth floor where the machine let out a ring as the sliding doors open to reveal a dimly lit hallway with aged white walls and a faded carpet floor

by **The Palmetto** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:50 pm

Trebizond Church

“Yeah, I’m sure that doing it for the greater good or whatever feels great,” Scrappy replied to Quetz, rolling his eyes in response to his over noble-y-ness. Scrappy occasionally found himself compelled to help innocent masses, he didn’t feel like this was anything special. It was just a game of despots against despots, regardless of who won, the losers would suffer the same fate as the other. It was the Middle East in the Middle Ages, after all, probably not that much better than what he remembered.

He wiped off some of the snow on his body and wicked it towards the masquerading angel, then made his way to the Nord close by. The two of them seemed to have a similar outlook on this situation, and the other lad seemed drunk. Nothing ever went wrong for Scrappy when it came to hanging around drunkards.
“Heyo, I’m Scrappy, nice to meet ya’. You’d be?” He asked the man, reaching out his hand to Rodrik.

by **Prusselanden** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:32 pm

The Wanderer's Ship
Ignis had a ton of ideas of where she wanted to go to, and so she decided to whittle the amount of them down. "Hmmmm. I vould really like to go to Vakanda in zhe Marvel Universe!" Ignis announced. "Zhat is, unless anyvone else has any ideas? I've alvays vanted to go to Vakanda."

Inkopolis
"Okay, I guess...we go then." Jona followed Samus into the ship.

"Wait, we're just trusting this lady!?" Konny stated, flabbergasted. "We just met her! And she's in this weird foreign spaceship thing!"

"It's not as if we have a device to get us home. We don't exactly have a choice here." Miranda followed behind.

"...Fine, I guess." she scoffed and ran after them. "But listen here, Samus, if you try any funny stuff I'm going to make sure you regret it!"

by **Prusselanden** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:52 pm

Konnyverse, Heaven
"Dad, I need to talk to you." Azrael followed God, effortlessly keeping up with the more omnipotent being.

"Yes, Azrael?" Jehovah/Yahweh/Allah/Just God sighed as he made his daily rounds about heaven. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I..."

Azrael took a deep breath in. "I don't want to be the Angel of death anymore."

And at that moment, you could hear even the slightest flap of a butterfly's wing. Azrael's breath became labored with anticipation. God blinked.

"Honey, I assigned you the best fit job I could for you from birth. It's a perfect match-"

"It's not that I don't like it." Azrael interrupted, trying to get through that she wasn't trying to question his authority. "It's just, well....I...I want to make friends with people, but everyone's afraid of me."

"No. Look, everyone's afraid of the angels-"

"Sure, but Gabriel and the others go out of their way to be all imperial and authoritative! But when other angels like Arariel are all chill, people like them and hang out with them. Except for me. I try to be friendly and peaceful as possible but the only things I get are tentative looks and expressions of terror. I don't even need to hear them speak to hear what they're saying. "Shit, here comes Azrael." "Who's she taking today?" "Please don't let it be me.""

Azrael sighed. "I just want people to like me. But they can't while I'm the angel of death."

"Azrael." God put a hand on her shoulder. "I know how lonely you might feel, and I get that it's hurting you. But you're the best for your job. We all need to do our duty an make sacrifices for the greater good, it's just how things are. I am not switching your job and risking millions of souls in need of reaping for your self interest."

"But-"

"Now get back to work."

Later

Azrael looked up from her bed, exhausted from a day's work.

Yet again, her attempts had failed.

Should she just give up and accept this as her life, or keep standing up for herself?

"What do I do?"

The door then pushed open to reveal Ariel, who seemed to be brimming with good news.

"Oh goody, what are you so happy about?" Azrael grumbled at her sibling, who promptly sat down beside her.

"I heard you complaining." Xe flashed her a little smile. "You sound like you could go on a walkabout."

"Walka-what?"

"Something those Aborigine people call that's a journey to find yourself."

"Oh great, now we're following pagan traditions?"

"Doesn't erase the fact that you still need one." Ariel shrugged. "The walls of the Multiverse have fallen down. You've got a whole new world in front of you to discover yourself in. And hey, maybe you'll even find people who aren't mortally terrified of you to be with."

"No way!" Azrael protested. "My job! I can't just give up on it!"

"Relax. I'll just put some more of the weight on Necros and her necromancers. It'll be fine."

"No...I can't...I'd be betraying heaven and abandoning my responsibility."

"Azrael." Ariel said a little more sternly. "You're not just a worker bee. You're a person too. You deserve to do this. And plus you've been so loyal for millenia. Don't you deserve a little break?"

"....How do I travel?"

"Portals seem to randomly appear. You might just walk around and eventually fall into one."

Azrael felt the bed fall away underneath her. "Oh, so like this?"

"Yeah, precisely." Ariel nodded.

"Ok-wait-" It took a minute to realize she was being sucked into a portal. "WHAT!? AAAAAAAH!"

Her screaming was interrupted by the portal closing as she fell and was going to end up in another dimension.

by **Korhal IVV** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:13 pm

Dimension C-137: The Shape of the Nightmare to Come

As Azrael cascaded through reality, she would feel the screams of quadrillions of dead souls as she plummeted through the abyss. She would then feel the hard surface of a metal wall on her face. She would look around, and she would see something that would make mortal men run in terror.

A battle. A battle of such massive proportions that it make anyone feel that they’re a tiny speck in an indifferent universe. Thousands, no, millions of warships filled the space around the angel of death, and she found herself on top of one. In front of the massive armada, there was a gigantic shield barrier that seemingly encompassed the entire local galactic cluster. Azrael would then see that an almost endless line of stars were kept near the barrier, their energy siphoned by Dyson spheres in order to power the gigantic barrier. In the other side outside the barrier, there was darkness. And monstrosities. They tried again and again to slam at the barrier, but every time they did, a barrage of billions of lasers would crash onto them, incinerating every single one that dared trespass near the barrier. The realization would dawn to the angel that she was indeed in a different dimension, but this was no rest day. It was a battle. A battle of such massive proportions that every individual is one out of the countless masses that exist. Ships were not places of memory, but arrows in a quiver, spent to keep the foe at bay. Worlds are not jewels that shine amongst the stars, but cold imposing fortresses built to keep the Swarm at bay.

Azrael would look up to see a plethora of individuals in space suits walking towards her. Two looked like humans, but the other two seemed like anthromorphic lizards and birds, apparently. Each of them held rifles, and they pointed them towards the angel, but did not open fire.

“Hail, unknown person.”, one of them began as she did not raise her gun like the rest. “You are on top of the Aragane Class Superdreadnought, Yamato, flagship of the Terran Federation. You do not seem to die off the cold space around us. Who are you, and state your intent.”, she said with a non-hostile yet imposing matter. “Are you with us or are with them?”

The other humanlike person seemingly crackled with electricity. “These are dark days, stranger. Tell us where you come from.”

by **The Imperial Warglorian Empire** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:19 am

Petrokovia wrote:Rise of the Masked Man

Blackthorn City
The HYDRA agents would find themselves in a rather quiet mountainous town, filled with dirt paths and small houses. The sky was a light gray, the wind blowing cool air through the town.

There didn't seem to be many active residents, as most were indoors for the remainder of the day. However, a couple of plainly dressed men across the street stood, leaning against the wall of a rather large building. One of them spotted the newcomers, and got the second man's attention. Keeping a careful eye on them, the second man held the lapel of his jacket to his face, and spoke into it quietly.

A few seconds later, the two men walked towards the group of agents, rather calmly.

"Hey, you're not from around here, are you?" the first man asked, already knowing the answer.

After all, the two of them had just seen the group appear out of nowhere, spat out by a portal of some kind.

Rise of the Masked Man
HYDRA
A bright light suddenly encompassed an area, dropping 4 men and a robot onto the ground. Adler, Zemo and Zola immediately got back on their feet, the first two looking around their general area, looking for any potential threats, while the latter also observed their surroundings, but less warily. Strucker soon got up, followed by Klaue, who looked sick. "Oh bloody hell," Klaue exclaimed as he quickly turned around and bent over, puking on the ground. When he recovered, he was confused by the fact that rather than the mountainous and snowy terrain of the Alps, they were instead located in what looked like a rather plain looking city. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," Klaue muttered to himself, looking around.

Strucker looked more annoyed than surprised. "Herr Zola? Status report, what the hell happened back there?" he demanded. Zola's holographic head suddenly turned into a bunch of words and calculations that started moving across the hologram at an extremely fast pace. This lasted for about a few seconds before Zola's face came back. "It appears that the energy signature that we were searching for originated from that flash. I track that it had so much energy, it was able to teleport us to a different location, some of it was composed of Gamma radiation, however, it was also made up of many unknown elements." Zola continued. "However, there is more concerning news, I cannot connect to the HYDRA mainframe, nor can I access our international network, I have no idea where we are."

"I can't contact my teams, which means two things, that they're all dead, which I doubt," Zemo added, "Or we are so out of reach I can't contact them, which is impossible because of our worldwide reaching comms." The group stayed quiet for a moment before Klaue broke the silence. "So we're in the middle of some bloody unknown city, with no contact back to HQ and no idea as to pinpoint our location?" Klaue groaned. "Oh, fuck me!" Adler glared at Klaue for using such language in front of Von Strucker. "Stop your whining Klaue," Adler said, Klaue crossing his arms and seemingly pouting.

"Hey, you're not from around here, are you?" A voice spoke out. Adler and Zemo immediately turned around, aiming their weapons at the two casually dressed men (Adler's Pistols for the former, and Zemo's AK for the latter), their weapons making the classic high pitched whining sound that symbolised them being primed, their weapons glowing blue from the visible energy magazines. "You lads are in a heap o' trouble now! Yes, you are!" Klaue exclaimed as he joined in the cacophony of weapons aimed at the two men, his arm unfolding into his sonic cannon. Just as he powered it up, about to fire at the two men, Strucker's voice called out.

"Nein! You dummkopfs! Stop!" Strucker exclaimed angrily, forcefully shoving Klaue's arm cannon down, as the other two men quickly aimed their weapons down, ready to once again lift them at any moment. Klaue glared at Strucker before returning his sonic cannon back into it's hand form. Strucker, now more calm, looked at the two men who had approached them. "Apologies for that, yes, it appears we aren't, perhaps you two gentlemen could tell us where we are?" Strucker said to the two men in his usual cultured and German accent.

by **Prusselanden** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:19 am

Dimension C-137
Azrael’s eyes widened as she witnessed the scene before her, backing away, shocked. It was unimaginable. Even the apocalypse that would eventually ensue was not on such a mass scale.

“Where the hell am I?”

When the woman approached her and asked her who she was, Azrael flapped her wings a little to show friendliness. “Azrael, 4th general of God’s Angels, the angel of death.” She introduced herself. “Nice to meet you.”

by **Korhal IVV** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:41 am

Prusselanden wrote:Dimension C-137
Azrael’s eyes widened as she witnessed the scene before her, backing away, shocked. It was unimaginable. Even the apocalypse that would eventually ensue was not on such a mass scale.

“Where the hell am I?”

When the woman approached her and asked her who she was, Azrael flapped her wings a little to show friendliness. “Azrael, 4th general of God’s Angels, the angel of death.” She introduced herself. “Nice to meet you.”

TSoNto

“An angel?”, the lady said as Azrael said her piece. “You sure do look like one. You don’t look too much an angel of death however. I’d think you were the angel of harvest if you didn’t tell us...”

The psyker beside her then stepped forward. “Where the hell are you? Well, this is the edge of the Local Group, and outside there is a swarm the size of a hundred galaxies. The entire galactic cluster has united in the face of this threat.”

The woman then spoke again. “Judging that we detected a dimensional anomaly just before we found you, I am guessing you are from a different dimension, hmm? But I will ask questions later. Mind coming with us into the ship?”, she said as she held out her hand.

“Oh yes. I neve introduced myself. I am the Grand Admiral of the Terran Cosmo Navy, Alexandra Nova. The last one was much better though. He defeated a hundred thirty enemy ships with just ten of his own! Grand Admiral Yi Sun-shin was so good at this job. Just so unfortunate to lose him to the multiverse...”

by **Prusselanden** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:34 pm

TsonTo
Azrael became a little irked when the woman said she thought Azrael was the angel of harvest, but after all she wasn’t wearing her Black Death shroud, so Azrael couldn’t really blame the lady. Instead, she merely knotted her eyebrow and nodded, following her onto the ship.

“Admiral Yi, huh? That sounds like some Korean guy I used to know. I’m sure you can fill his shoes, Commander Nova. By the way, could you elaborate a little on this universal threat you’re facing?”

by **The Empire of Tau** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:57 pm

The Nightmare that is the Respite

The sound of rainfall wakes you up as you soon realize your current predicament. Your mind appears to be fine, no dizziness, no headaches, everything seems clear. You are in some kind of strange morbid town, a empty one at that. You feel cold, the rain drowning your body in small pellets of water. Besides for the sounds of the rain, there is a eerie silence that looms about. There is a odd grayness to everything, the air, the buildings, the floor, it seems that everything has a tint of gray. In the distance, there is a towering stone castle that lays behind a full moon. If there is anything that you know for certain, that castle is where you must go. Yet, you have a strange feeling that something or one shall stop you in your path. For now, you stand up and see the stone path ahead you. Your body seems to be in your control now.

by **The Intergalactic Russian Empire** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:14 pm

Trebizond

Eric, Pobeda, and Kadoor listened to what the priests had to say intently, taking in all the information they gave. Eric thought of their problem a bit before saying. "Why yes! The Lord sent us here to deliver you from the evils of the Turkish invaders! Fear not, salvation is at hand!" Kadoor gave him a bit of a confused look, to which he whispered. "Just roll with it." He then glanced back at the priests when they asked for introductions. "I am Eric Ayers, from the distant kingdom of England." He gestured over to Ann as she was walking to Pobeda with her new friend. "This here is my partner, Ann Aludra, she's a Christian from the lands of Al-Andalus. And these two....." He looked over at Kadoor and Pobeda for a second, wondering what he might be able to say for them. In a moment, it came to him. "They are beings from the heavens, sent to directly assist us in our efforts." Kadoor in response turned to him and whispered. "What the hell are you doing right now, Eric?" Eric glanced back at her and responded. "Again, just roll along with it. I know what I'm doing."

Meanwhile, Pobeda had his attention moved taken from the priests as Ann came up to him to ask for help. She was with a lady who was apparently completely mute, and wanted Pobeda to try and uncover any name for her by mind-reading. He looked at Shut Hell for a long second. Shut Hell would notice the myriad of scars that crossed the Troll's grey face, but also a youthfulness underneath the scars. He was clearly fairly young, but experienced. "Alright, I guess I can do it." Shut Hell would notice his stare intensify subtly as he focused on reading into her mind. There was a lot to take in, but Pobeda ignored most of it. After a few seconds he stopped and shook his head. "Ugh, nothing. Or, almost nothing. I failed to find any real name, the closest thing I could find was a strange nickname: Shut Hell. Does that mean anything to you?" He cocked his head to the side curiously, half addressing Ann and half addressing Shut Hell herself.

DTTM

Eleutherius paused when he heard Altair mention so-called "Gods of Pleasure", remembering the horrors of the Prince of Pleasure, but elected to ignore it and instead listen to what the Raposa had to say. This was the first time the warrior had listened to a xenos lament their own woes, and it felt wrong to him. Even after his initial acceptance of this task, his hypno-indoctrination and training told him these creatures could not be trusted, and are only worthy of death, but at the same time, he could tell these beings were anything but a threat. He recalled all the current facts: he was lost on a mysterious planet, surrounded by unknown yet seemingly harmless beings, whose planet was being taken by some unknown figure known as Wilfre. If he killed them, he would risk the possibility of being stranded here forever, but if he helped them, he may yet find a way back. "We should set out immediately, before this Wilfre being becomes aware of our presence."

Egypt, WoFaM

Venera grinned eagerly when Alex brought up the prospect of battle. It had been a while since she had been able to indulge herself in the thrill of combat, so she was more than ready to get her hands dirty. "Oh, you know I'm ready for a fight!" Hersel nodded slowly. "I'll try to help, too." Venera glanced up at him and smirked. "What, not gonna try to stop me from gettin myself hurt?" The Indigoblood shook his head at her. "Well for one I know trying to stop you would be futile. You'd just try even harder to go fight. For two," He smirked confidently. "I know full well you can take care of yourself in a fight." Ven's grin returned, even wider. "You're goddamn right, babe. Now c'mon down and gimme a kiss for good luck, wouldja?" Hersel smiled back and obliged, squatting down to eye level with Ven and letting her pull him in for a long, deep kiss. When the two finally finished their kiss a few seconds later they both took another second to look into each others' eyes before Hersel straightened himself back up and said. "Alright, we should probably get going now before Ven and I get too carried away."

AGA

Alena nodded at Theo's question "The Swiss Confederation has been doing well for itself. It's grown rich from other people and countries storing their gold there, and has managed to stay out of many devastating conflicts of the past century." She followed the others into the Wanderer's ship and looked around at the interior. It was certainly like nothing she had ever seen before. She heard the others asking about where to go and the Wanderer's response, and she furled her brow in response. She didn't have any ideas of where to go, but she didn't want this to just be a mindless joyride. "What if we went somewhere where we could do something actually useful?"

by **Menschenfleisch** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:06 pm

A Grand Adventure | Tone

Valerian wandered about the ship, marvelling at the advanced technology on display. From all his travels over these past months, seeing burnt out towns, corpses and primitives; it was nice to finally be back in the friendly company of a couple dozen good friendly travellers. The Wanderer spoke out to the assembled ragtag bunch, asking them where they might like to go.

Tone looked over at Ignis, already spilling places she wanted to go. The Wanderer seemed awfully open to suggestions about 'books and movies' they might have wanted to 'be real'. He was certainly treating reality a bit too blase for the kind of responsibility he held. But still, goodwill was goodwill, and begetting it with suspicion was just always in bad taste.

"Well, if we're allowed to choose... Well, I embarrassingly don't have any real destinations to see! Although I always wanted to know what other universes, beyond the ones I've been looking for seem like. Young miss, what's Wakanda? Is it nice this time of year?"

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn and Kyle

Honestly? The suggestion that they might have been immigrants or refugees somewhat appealed to Jacquelyn. It was isolated, pretty vague. Nobody would ask stupid questions about her past, or anything of that ilk. She was glad to be on the move again, getting a plan together. It reminded her of the hours leading up to her arrival in this place. The plans, the battles, the drawn out conversations. A little peace and quiet, at last.

She examined a picture on the wall, and spoke to Elizabeth without turning her head. A bit rude, sure, but she knew they it wouldn't make for a good story if she couldn't hear what Jack was saying. Fifteen paragraphs of "what" would never make it into a book.

"Investigators, huh? Sounds pretty interesting. I'd like to get started on it, maybe track down a few criminals here and there, pull apart a few mysteries. Maybe we'll even scrounge up enough money to pay our rent, who knows."

Kyle looked toward Elizabeth, and fiddled with his pocket; feeling the Astra's barrel. It was a surprise to him nobody had noticed he had a rifle on his person.

"So, should we get going? I'd like to get an ID, in case the police come a-knocking. Don't want to get arrested on counts of illegal immigration."

by **Jraden** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:47 pm

Secrets Of The Raven
The Kents
On a dark, lonely road, Simon and Hope Kent were cuddled together in their SUV, the backseats having been moved forward to make space for a bed that the two could sleep in. As they slept soundly, having pleasant dreams, the SUV continued driving down the world, yet no one was driving it. No one physical, that is. The same force that was causing Simon and Hope to sleep soundly was the same force that was driving the SUV down the road. Skylar Kent, wife of Simon and mother of Hope. Deceased for over twenty years, and yet still bound to the world, anchored by her family as a wraith. Skylar didn't mind of course, so long as her family was happy, she was happy. It's not like she needed sleep anyway.

Skylar could not risk letting either Simon or Hope drive down this treacherous road, so she was doing everything in her power to keep the darkness in this area from causing some misfortune from happening to them. It's difficult to describe it to anyone who was not a wraith, but it was as if...evil itself was trying to harm them. And while it creeped around them, attempting to affect the SUV and trying to hurt her family in their sweet dreams, it failed. Because Skylar refused to let it in. But that didn't stop various voices whispering into her ear, trying to convince her to crash the car, to kill her family, to give in.

She ignored them of course, humming and singing not only to herself, but to the passengers of the vehicle she was controlling. And she thought of sweat, pleasant dreams, of her and Simon taking Hope to a movie, Spider-Man, specifically. They loved that movie. Only ten years ago, and yet it had started a massive superhero franchise that they all loved and kept up with. It was one of the few times Skylar was able to maintain her physical form long enough to walk alongside her family like she was human. Like she was Simon’s Wife and Hope’s Mother. Like they were a normal family.

The memory was one of her family's favorites and it was more than enough to keep the darkness of the road at bay.

They were on The Road To The End Of The World. A haunted road, apparently, which reached a cliff that when looked down upon at its edge, seemed like you were viewing the End of The World. They called it "The Twisted Road", in honor of the Neil Young song. Simon and Hope were insatiably curious about "The Twisted Road", and Skylar reassured them she could keep them safe from its dangers. They had been through far worse, it's hardly as if this would be a threat.

Sure enough, only an hour later the family had exited their SUV, and they held hands, with Skylar choosing this moment to take a physical form to share this moment with her family.

"It's beautiful." Hope said in awe, as they looked downwards.
"Not as beautiful as you." Simon countered with a smile, and he received a wide smile back.

They stood in silence for a long time, admiring the view, until Skylar grew restless.
"This place is evil. I may not be able to protect you while I'm with you like this." She explained.
"Mom don't leave us!” Hope cried out in dismay. “How else can you enjoy the view? If you become a wraith again, you're just going to be trapped in the Shadowlands again, and you'll-"
"Be able to protect you, Hope." Skylar said reassuringly, putting an arm on her daughter's shoulder. "Please, let's just go."
"Trust your mother Hope. And if not, trust me." Simon added in. "I'll be honest, once the awe died down, I starting getting very strange vibes. This is definitely not the best place to camp out. We should go to that town, what was it called? Brunhilde?"

"Branhwrn, Dad." Hope corrected with a laugh.
"I knew that." He retorted, earning a small laugh from his family.
"Well I guess if you both think it's not a good idea to stay here, we should leave..."Hope said, admitting defeat, though still sounding disappointed.

"It's for the best Hope. Besides, it would be nice to finally get to be in a town again! Of course, I love spending time with you and your mother, but I do enjoy interacting with other people, of telling stories and seeing the unique culture of the town. And most importantly, we haven't looked up anything on Branhwrn, so it's a complete mystery! And we all love mysteries!" Simon added in, adding his enthusiasm, which was filled with enough energy to pump up Hope despite her waking up less than ten minutes ago.

"Alright! Onward to Branhwrn!" Hope declared. The family would then turn around to go back into their SUV...and be interrupted by some less then pleasant fellows, because suddenly, they noticed ten men standing in front of them. They were a group of men dressed in coats and jackets, most having hoodies raised up to protect them from the rain. While most wore sunglass and bandannas and even ski masks to cover their faces along with gloves, the Kents could see from few patches of exposed skin that all of the men were tanned or dark in color.

"Look what we have here. A bunch of tourists in the wrong parts of The Road, ain't anyone told you that being here at night is a bad idea?" The man, their leader, they assumed, began to laugh, speaking with a clear middle eastern accent. "Maybe we can help you people leave this place with a small fee?" the leader spoke, as his group surrounded the Kent family.

One of the men who was not surrounding the Kents put his duffel bag on the ground and took out a strange set of googles that looked as though it was a prop for a steampunk movie, and then a strange device with a glass bulb and long syringe-like needle attached to it. Grabbing onto the strange device, he began to look around for...something.

“I’m already thinking of one way you could repay us…” the man said, his eyes on Hope as he fell on to Hope, looking at every part of the young woman's body.

Simon and Hope shared a look with Skylar, who was ready to defend her family. The immigrants wouldn't be able to see her, of course, which really made it unfair to them. They already knew how this was going to end, but they wanted to give them a chance. After all, everyone deserved a chance, even incredibly non-intimidating immigrants who were trying to mug them. Well they probably intended to do worse, but they were giving them the benefit of the doubt.

"That would be wonderful! While I'm sure we could have handled ourselves just fine, I love traveling in groups! Do you have any interesting stories about this area you could tell us?" Simon asked enthusiastically, without seeming to be intimidated what so ever.

"Ooh, what do you got there?" Hope asked with curiosity, with wide, innocent eyes as she walked slightly closer to the man who had the steampunk-esque device.

"While we don't have much money on us." Simon continued without a beat. "I'd much prefer we paid each other with...good stories? What do you know about the town Branhwrn? What kind of device is that? What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? Are you keeping tourists safe from this area? I've heard it was dangerous, and you said it was dangerous..."

"Yeah, we should probably leave Dad."Hope added in. "But it was great meeting you all!" Hope said with a smile to the masked men. Meanwhile, Skylar kept angrily beckoning for her family to get into the SUV.

The Kents couldn't see the leader's expression turn sour from behind his ski mask, but when he spoke, it let them know that he wasn't pleased with the Kent’s reactions. "If you don't have any money, than we have a problem." A grin formed on his lips as his eyes went to Hope again. "But I think we can think of another way for you to repay us." Before Simon could say anything, one of the men sucker punched him on his right cheek, and four more began to surround and beat the man to the ground were they began to kick and stomp on him.

Just as Hope would try to save her father, the leader grabbed her, as did several other men. "Where are you going sweet heart?” One of them asked sinisterly. “We’re just about to have some fun!” the man laughed as he began to drag her to the SUV. Once they reached the vehicle and opened the trunk, they threw her at the car, holding her down as the leader began to remove her clothes, and Hope just rolled her eyes and asked “Do you intend to rape me? Because I wouldn't recommend doing that!” And offered no resistance. She just seemed annoyed by the whole thing.

As Skylar was about to intervene and defend her family, the man with the googles seemed to actually see Skyalr, as if she was present in the physical world, and so the man began to run towards the wraith. Skylar was confused, but thought that the effort would be pointless, but to her surprise the needle actually pierced through her corpus, and after hearing several clockwork machinery inside the device began to move, she would feel her energy being sucked into the machine.

This action surprised all three Kents, but more importantly, it enragedSkylar, and the man who attempted to use the machine against Skylar found his arms forced out of her corpus, and his arms drove the needle of his device into his skull. His body hit the floor, and Skylar manifested as a Wraith into the real world, unleashing an unholy screech as she screamed "STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" Following that, all of the remaining attackers would find themselves unable to move, as if they were being held in place, and not by their fear, but by some force that was controlling their ability to move.

The leader, who had only succeeded so far in taking off Hope's shirt, stood in fear as he looked at Skylar, and the men who were beating Simon stopped as well.
"Good job honey!" Simon said, as he forced himself up. "Please take it easy on them-"

"I'M GOING TO ENJOY THIS!" Skylar screamed, and the leader of the men would suddenly grab his crotch with both of his hands...and squeeze. He screamed and screamed as a strange noise, a mixture of a crunching and squishing sound was heard, and blood began to leak down his legs and through his pants. The leader then collapsed onto the ground in utter shock due to the pain of crushing his genitals with his own hands.

The remaining eight men would then see Skylar's corpus develop claws on her hands, and with utter merciless fury, she killed them all. One was slashed across the face, Skylar's claws smashing through his skull and brain, one took all five of her claws through his chest, and when she pulled out, he was pulled forward with them and hit the ground face first, the next slashed across the torso with enough force to be disembowled, and another had Skylar stab both of her claws into the middle of his torso, and then she pulled her hands apart sideways, tearing him in half.

The remaining four men then watched as one of their own pulled a gun, shot himself in the crotch, and while still standing, shot the remaining three in the crotch before putting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger.
The three remaining men fell to the floor in pain, and Skylar made short work of them. She crushed one of their heads with her bare hands, slit another's throat, making him bleed out slowly, and the last had his head bashed in with the steampunk device. She then went to the leader, who still laid on the floor, and promptly threw him down the Cliff with such force and ferocity, he died as he tumbled down into the darkness below.

A second later, the wraith was gone, and Skylar in her normal, beautiful form remained. "That was fun.” She remarked with a wide smile. “We don't have to worry about those jerks anymore. Nowlet me heal those wounds honey.”Skylar said to her husband, as she possessed his body, and Hope watched as her father’s bruises, cuts, and broken bones began to heal before her eyes.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you Skylar?” He asked his wife with starry eyes.
“Only every day Simon. Now then, I’ll deal with these bodies and drive the car to Brahnwrn, you two can...have some fun on the way there.” She finished with a coy smile.

“Will do, Mom!" Hope said, not caring at all about the massacre that had just occurred. Hope and Simon entered the back seat of the SUV, the same one where they had cuddled as Skylar controlled the SUV as they slept and where the leader of the immigrants tried to strip Hope of her clothes in an effort to do far worse. Hope was still shirtless, but she didn't stay that way for long, as she moved Simon onto his back, straddled him, and locked her lips with his.

by **Cybraxia** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:36 pm

Secrets of the Raven

Jeez, what a creepy town. Greed shuddered, and continued to the gas station. Along the way, he was given strange looks from the residents of the town. Not minding them, he entered the station, requested the Advisor, and left. Do these people just not like strangers? Something made his hair stand on end, something that was fairly hard to do for him. Was he being watched?

Not wanting to take chances, he returned back to the Bar and to Elizabeth's room.

by **Jraden** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 3:50 am

Secrets Of The Raven
The Kents
Following their escapade on the Twisted Road, the Kents had drove to Branhwrn, a quaint little town with eery, but quaint little architecture. It was also heavily raining, and while Skylar was certain she could protect them from the rain, her family refused, not wishing to expose her, and because they wanted to feel the rain again.

And that is how Simon and Hope Kent, father and daughter duo extraordinaire, found themselves walking into The Drinking Crow Tavern and Inn, hand in hand as they both shared an umbrella, and as they stepped inside, their hands separated and Simon put the umbrella down.

“Look at this place, Hope! The architecture, the vibrant culture! I love it!” Simon marveled out loud. “Hello there good sir-”, Simon started as he looked at a man walking by in a large coat. “Can you please tell me the origins of the Drinking Crow name?”
“Bugger off, wanker.” The man eloquently retorted with the most utterly stereotypical accent one could not even fathom, even they tried their hardest to be as stereotypical as possible.

Simon just quirked his eyebrow upwards and tilted his head to the side as he looked at the man, who walked out into the rain. He then looked at Hope, and the two shared a laugh. Shaking his head, he and his daughter walked to the Front Desk, where the two met and interacted with a woman named Adara, a woman with red and black dyed hair and a punk rock get up. After complimenting her fashion sense and questoning the history of the town, as well as the origin of the name "The Drinking Crow", Simon and Hope purchased a room for the two of them, and repeatedly denied offers of alcohol, citing how it would be very detrimental and against their healthy diet.

As the two entered their room, they made sure to check for any conceivable way they can be watched, and closed the window binds to be sure. Then, once they were sure they were safe, Skylar finally manifested herself and spoke out loud.

“Finally, I wasn't sure when I’d be able to speak again.”
“Me and dad were always able to see you, Mom.” Hope stated.
“That's true, but you weren't able to hear me, I was forced to use Sign Language. I much prefer using my voice to communicate with you.
“Sign language? You mean when used both middle fingers on the guy who cussed us out in British?”
“Yes, The middle finger is an unofficial part of American Sign Language, and just because I did it doesn't mean you should, and while your naivety is endearing, I know that you know British is not a language.”
“You know me so well.” Hope said with a smile, as she then began to pull out her yoga mat, intending to do exercises she had missed out while she and Simon were on the road.

“Skylar, love?” Simon began. “What about the device those men used, the steampunk looking one with the needle and bulb? While it is an absolute utter fascination of engineering-”
“It's magical.” Skylar interrupted. “An anti-wraith device, specifically, one that I believed was manufactured to capture wraiths. When the man stabbed me with it, I felt my energy draining away, but it wasn't enough to stop me. I couldn't destroy it either, but it's on the locked trunk, right? Nothing will get through there, and if not, then tomorrow, and tomorrow, because you two need rest, can find an appropriate place to put it away, permanently.”

After a few seconds of silence for Simon and Hope to process this information, Simon stated “Lord above, I just love it when you're full of information, just stating fact after fact! Have I ever told you how intelligent you are, because I adore it!"

Skylar smiled and tried to hide her blush. “You're gonna make me flustered.” She giggled. “But I trust you and Hope to be able to deal with it in the meantime. For now, you two enjoy the hotel, and tell me when you’re going to sleep. I’ll watch over you and the SUV. It's been in a long day for me as well, I need rest to!”

“No you don’t, you're practically invincible! Unstoppable! Requiring no sleep!” Hope said dramatically, striking a pose as she did so.

Skylar smiled at her daughter’s antics, and responded with “Well I am, but I like holding onto a schedule of “sleeping.” I feel like it helps keeps me more human, and anchored to you.” She explained. “Sometimes the longer I stay..."awake", the more I can feel myself slipping into a void...but don't worry Hope, I’ll never fully slip. Not when I have you and your father to worry about. And I'll never truly be gone, I'll always be there for you two."

Skylar then managed to manifest herself into a physical form, just long enough to give Simon a comforting goodbye kiss and an “I love you.” Followed by her hugging a teary eyed Hope, and giving her a comforting kiss on the forehead as Hope nestled her head in Skylar’s chest, closing her eyes, enjoying the loving hug of a mother she never knew while she was alive. “I’ll be there when you awake.” Skylar stated, her words full of love, comfort, and reassurance.

When Skylar seemed to disappear, and Hope opened her eyes, they were full of bittersweet melancholy.

by **Naval Monte** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 6:56 am

Secrets Of The Raven

As the Kents drove off to the legend haunted, witch cursed, town known as Branhwrn they didn't see that within dimensions that not even Skylar can perceive an eldritch entity watch them, it's many eyes having a perfect angle to watch the violent last moments of the gang members that failed to capture the wrath and do lastly harm to the family as they also took the soul catcher from them. The creature swam through the aether of it's plane as it eventually reached the location of the conjurer that bind it to their will and the creature began to project a stream of strange energy down to the visual medium the conjurer was using.

Inside an unknown location a woman wearing red rooms and a white mask was surrounded by many wooden furniture with only candle light acting as the only source of illumination, the lights of the candles revealing not only books on many shelves but also many odd artifacts in displayed and a large rug on the floor with many symbols on it with the largest making up what would appear to be a magic circle. The woman was sitting in front of a crystal ball and as the beam of eldritch energy hit the sphere of glass the woman began to see what had happen on the road. The woman's fist clenched tightly once she saw that not only did her proxies failed her miserably but they would go as far as to bring about unwanted and unnecessary suffering to the still living family members, not only have they failed in their mission and abused one of her orders for their own depraved pleasures but they also lost one of their treasured artifacts; one that was both irreplaceable and was a major piece for their operations in this town.

"No not all is lost. We can still proceed with our plans without the soul catcher." the woman said, giving a mental command to her extraplanar spy as the creature swam off to the location it's conjurer ordered it to be. "Next time we should find pawns of much higher character. Associating ourselves with savages would only tarnish our image." within the darkness a voice came out. "I'm afraid for most the bodies we left out and their state has already done that mistress." from the shadows a tall man wearing black robes with a brown mask emerged. "Yes but what we did was for the greater good. In due time the sacrifices done shall be worth it and humanity will know that those poor souls were the keys needed to bring forth paradise." The lady in red told her masked companion. "What shall we do about the soul catcher and bodies?" the woman was silent. "Have our agents track the whereabouts of that vehicle and find the soul catcher. Ashwood is in the town and we can not let the machine fall into her hands. As for the bodies tell the authorities. Those men can still server our cause after their demise." the masked man nodded and walked back to the shadows, disappearing from the room through the use of shadowcraft.

The woman looked back at the crystal ball just as she was beginning a divination ritual to see future events to shape her plans around them. Yet as the visions within the glass began to become clear she began to see Agent A in some of them and soon saw where he was presently with one of their agents in the elevator. The woman kept the image to where it was to see how things would develop as she now knows this man is going to play a major role in the coming events in the town.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I love what is going through your mind love. This town has plenty of mysteries for us to sink our teeth into besides the main one we have and we have a few unscrupulous folks skulking around in this old town for us to bother." When Kyle spoke about going out to get the IDs Elizabeth replied back. "Don't rush my mate kid, he gets pretty angsty when people rush him with his work. Besides I need Greed to show up because he is the only one I haven't taken a photo yet." Just as she spoke of him Greed finally made his appearance. Before he can speak Elizabeth rush up to him and took a good photo of him. "Thanks Greed. Just put the bag on the counter." she said with her back turn to him as she sent the photo of Greed to her friend. "Also I'm going to send in the fake name you gave me and some of that fake backstory you used on me. My friend would make up the rest on their own."

Elizabeth would soon become rigid as she felt a powerful magical source just appear very close to her proximity. "What the hell is that?" Elizabeth walked to the window to see what it could be and beyond the strange creatures, energies, and phenomenons that her eyes can see none of them match with the source of power she was feeling. Elizabeth began to think what the source of arcane energy can be and tried to guess where it could be. "You know maybe we can bug my mate for a while. Anyone want to join me and Kyle on meeting my friend? Maybe you can tell him what you want him to say on your ID?" she told the others. Once she got those that were willing to join her she began to leave the room she took out a cigarette she told Kyle. "By the way that gun of yours will have to stay behind. I can't let you get arrest since owning that is illegal in this country. But I think I have a few ways of how to keep it hidden for you." she told him as she began to walk through the hall, closing her eyes to feel out the Azoth surrounding her to give her a perfect clue as to where the spike of energy was coming from.

As they reached down to the first floor and walked out of the door Elizabeth open the umbrella and looked at to the dark houses and apartment complexes and the pool of cars surrounding the Drinking Crow. As she began to walk between the cars she can feel her senses pulling her towards the source and just as she saw her supermini she suddenly felt her senses pulling her away from it and to another car. Eventually Elizabeth would stop in front of the Kent's SUV. "So this car is where that source of power is coming from? Well whoever owns this car most likely don't know what they have since I don't sense any magical booby traps, defense spells, or even a concealment charm to hide its presence." the witch thought as she blew out smoke.

She knew the group of people with her were now wondering why she took them to some random car and while she thought of telling them the truth the fact that they could be watched now made her silent on the matter. "I will come back later when most people are asleep and take whatever is inside the car." But first she needs a good cover on why she took them to this car? "Oh wait this isn't my car. Bloody hell I feel like an airhead now, sorry guys." she said to them as she stuck out her tongue. "The color is the same as mine and the body looks somewhat similar. But now standing here I think I can see it now." she pointed at the supermini. "Come along, let's go before the owner comes by and thinks we are trying to steal their car or something." she began to walk away from the SUV and head to her car.

Once inside her car she began to drive through the narrow and twisty rounds, rounds that despite the modern concrete covering the earth and the cobblestone beneath it were never made for modern cars. Because of the very nature of the roads and the fact that every day they force drivers to make interesting and perilous turns and manoeuvres in some parts was one of the reasons the trolleys and trams still remain as their tracks were set during a time when horse drawn carriages and trams were the only alternative from transportation within the town that didn't require one to use their own feet. The only other vehicle to benefit twisted nature of the roads were the trolley buses who often used the same cable lines that the streetcars used. However the roads from the urban distract that she was aware of had more modern style roads and some streets in the other towns were wide enough and were less twisty as they were more recent compare to the part of the town she was in.

Eventually Elizabeth would see a four storey red brick building with red tile, sagging gable roofs with four chimneys on top, all four had smoke plumbs rising up to the heavens. "We're close guys." Elizabeth would soon part and as they cross the street they would see the stone walls surrounding the building, some parts of the wall having a few cracks with most of it either being covered by graffiti or creeper plants, a few section was still clear. As they walked past the black iron gate with the sign on top saying the "Red Orchid" they would walk past a small garden with trees that were similar to all of the ones outside due to the winter season, black clawed arms and tendrils reaching over and under to grab on to their victims. Joining the trees were overgrown plants with some having their roots and stems also resembling tendrils while other plants were either wilting or were already dead. The aged cobblestone walkway would lead them to the brick stones whose colors were faded thanks to time and whose cracks were a clear sign of continued abuse due to being stepped on throughout its existence. Being close to the building the group would have seen that all of the windows were narrow and that at the front of the building right at the roof was a triangular pediment.

Once inside the building they would that the old building had light bulbs inside what were once candle holders, giving the antique holders a modern update. The entrance was made of mostly wood by the door and at their side leading to the entrance to the building were twin dark brown columns. Once the group clean their shoes they enter inside a room where the floor was covered by a green rug. To their left they would see what look like a restroom and their right another room but that one had more tables, suggesting that it was the dining room. Looking at the respienctist desk they would find twin spiraling staircases leading to an upper hallway. Elizabeth would walk up to the person at the floor, a woman who was in her middle ages and after a quick chat on her being a friend of a tenant of the building. The woman gave her a key and told her that their friend was overdue on their rent. "Well tell him that love." she said as she walked to the stairs.

Boarding on the elevator she would reach the second floor and reach the room where her friend was in, knocking. A few seconds later she and the others would hear the locks being removed and would see a man with black messy hair, stubble on his face, and glasses peeking out of the door. "I wasn't expecting you to show up this early Elizabeth. You know how long it takes for me to complete my "artwork"." the man told the witch. "Sorry old son but my latest acquaintance here couldn't wait any long and wanted to see the progress of your work." the man looked at them. "Well sorry but they aren't finished yet. Your new boss gave me a lot of work to deal with so it's gonna take a while for me to get it all done." when Elizabeth asked him how much he is done the man began to rub his chin. "I think I'm almost done with this guys ID." he pointed at Kyle. "I already got his girlfriend's done and a few others. Actually I was going to do the cute blond girl after I was done with his. I haven't started on the Asian guy since you just gave me him but I think he would be easy to make. If you want you guys can stay in my place for a while until I'm done with his ID." Elizabeth agreed and he let the group into his place. The building was surprisingly plain looking for it being the living space of a forger. The living room had the usual furniture one would see with a few plants on vases, a bookcase with different books and items on display, movie posters on the wall and connecting the living room a kitchen. Done the hall where different room leading to rooms with two doors obviously being the closet door.

"Just help yourselves to whatever is in the fridge, I was going to do shopping tomorrow anyway. Oh you guys can call me Tim." The man now known Tim said. "Cheers. Oh the landlady said she wants her money." Tim just shrugged at the news. "Tell that old hag I will pay her back later." with those words he walked off to his room to finish Kyle's ID. Elizabeth walked into his kitchen and from the fridge took out a bottle of beer, walking to the couch and turning on the tv. "So what is our plan after we get the IDs?" she asked as she open the bottle. On the TV they saw a news anchor talking about a shocking development on the murders in Branhwrn, almost making Elizabeth choke on her drink as she rose the volume of the tv.

"Hours ago police received reports of new bodies on road 616 better known to locals as "The Road to the End of the World". All of the victims are to their late twenties through thirties and are from the middle east. Most of the victims were found with severe wounds particularly at the genital area of their bodies and while this seems to be a departure from the usual targets from the killer police say that they have found clues to link these killings to those done to the students from Cerridwyn University." As the lady from the news kept talking Elizabeth looked at the news as she drank from the bottle, watching it intently.

by **Mundeo** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:18 am

The Grand Adventure

TSC Vingilot

"Wakanda, hm? A good choice" The Wanderer reacted, scratching his chin. Alena then suggested that they go somewhere where they can be "actually useful", a suggestions that piqued the Wanderer's interest.

"So you want to do some good, hm?" He asked, walking up to the girl. His question sounded almost critical of Alena's request, yet he sounded as calm as ever. "You think you can change the endlessness that is the Multiverse for the better? Then tell me: where would you like to go?"

The Multiverse’s Most Dangerous Game

TARGET: GODZILLA
LOCATION: INKOPOLIS

Samus' head suddenly turned in Konny's direction. Her glare was cold, and her eyes were like glass mirrors that reflected the threat right back to their sender. "You have a big mouth for a little kid" She said. "What are you going to do, throw a dead body at me?"

The huntress sighed and looked out the other side. Godzilla was close, very close. It might be mere minutes before he reaches the shore. She needed power, a lot of power, for her to reactivate her power suit. If she can't do that, she can only hope that these natives have some heavy firepower to provide for her.

Castlevania

Dracula charged forward, his clawed hands reaching out. Trevor, Alucard, Sypha, and Grant were all prepared to strike, but something none of them could have expected happened. Dracula began to slowed down, as if he were moving through syrup. They tried to strike back, only to realize that they moved just as slowly. It was as if time had slowed down around them. A mysterious light entered through the windows; then, one by one, they all vanished in a flash of light.

The Mutliverse's Most Dangerous Game
Inkopolis

Sypha appeared in the middle of a busy square, but it was like nothing she had ever seen. Tall glass buildings soared over her, taller than any towards she had ever come across. And those who surrounded her... they were not human. They were some kind of creature that looked like children, but with tentacles for hair. Is this Dracula's doing? Are they his servants? Where are the others? When one of the creature's approached her, the magician sprung to her feet. He held her hand in front of her with her index and ring finger extended. A small sphere of bright red light appeared between them: a spell prepared to be unleashed. The sight of the spell frightened the creature, and it, along with many others, stepped away from Sypha, forming a circle around her.

What was this place?

Secrets of the Raven

Trevor found himself in an alleyway. When he rose to his feet, he felt that it was raining. But it wasn’t raining just a moment earlier. What kind of dark magic is this? Where were Sypha, Alucard, and Grant? The architecture looked familiar, but at the same time, this place felt... strange. The street ahead was bustling with passing people, all wearing bizarre attire.

What was this place?

Respite

Alucard also appeared in an alleyway, but it was much less busy. In fact, it was empty. The dhampr felt the cold rain begin to dampen his clothes as he walked out into the street. The town was empty, and the air was chill. Everything had an essence of bleak grayness to it. In the distance, he saw a massive castle rise up towards the full moon. Was that Castlevania? No; Alucard could recognize his father's castle in an instant, and this wasn't it. But if that isn't Castlevania, then where was he?

by **Korhal IVV** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 6:10 pm

Prusselanden wrote:TsonTo
Azrael became a little irked when the woman said she thought Azrael was the angel of harvest, but after all she wasn’t wearing her Black Death shroud, so Azrael couldn’t really blame the lady. Instead, she merely knotted her eyebrow and nodded, following her onto the ship.

“Admiral Yi, huh? That sounds like some Korean guy I used to know. I’m sure you can fill his shoes, Commander Nova. By the way, could you elaborate a little on this universal threat you’re facing?”

TSotNto
“Well, I would like to, but not here. Come in to the bridge.”, Alexandra said as she and her companions turned back...

When they were all inside, Nova then began speaking.

“50 years ago...”

It was 50 years since the first cracks in the Multiverse began to show in the universe C-137. At first, only a few unfortunate souls were either sucked in or thrown out, sometimes to the void of space itself. However, in the outermost rims of the universe, a rift cracked into the walls of reality. It opened with a resounding shatter and roar, as a swarm of dimensional creatures the size of a hundred galaxies crawled into this universe. The first galactic clusters to fall to their ravenous hunger soon gave rise to gigantic refugee fleets, fleeing across the cosmos as they saw the galaxies from which they hail from consumed before their very eyes. In a few short years, half of the universe was dead. The galaxies in the night sky winked out one by one as the Swarm consumed them all in an unsatiable hunger for sentient life. Supercluster after supercluster was destroyed, their inhabitants slain and their civilizations eliminated in but a few months.

In the isolated Local Group, at first, there was no panic or knowledge about the Swarm. Rather, the inhabitants of that cluster believed the blacked out stars to be the doing of Dyson Spheres draining all their energy, but there were no supernovae, no background radiation to confirm such. Finally, the first refugee fleets arrived. Eight hundred billion people aboard a million ships streamed to the Local Group’s fringes, where the locals were shocked by such numbers. More and more kept arriving, and as the Asterians of the Andromeda Galaxy interrogated those who sought asylum with them, the truth was revealed. An all-consuming Swarm devoured everything on their way. Stars, planets, quasars, and even black holes were not safe. However, these asylum seekers knew that the Swarm’s creatures were not intelligent; they can be compared to animals. The Local Group has 25 years to prepare before the Swarm reaches it, and all of the civilizations within it, as well as those who sought refuge, integrated their technology and knowledge to have the best defence against the Swarm. A great shield barrier, powered by black holes and stars dragged to the edges of the Local Group, enveloped the entire galactic cluster. Billions of warships were created, often from thin dark matter as the Vanadorians, one of the first to fight and lose to the Swarm, shared their nanotechnology, with which they could change the base particles of any object and matter, and convert any element to another. Finally, 25 years later, the Swarm’s vanguard slammed onto the barrier, but the defence was successful. Quadrillions upon quadrillions of Swarm creatures were cut down as the barrier held them off as the vessels of the alliance shot them down with no mercy from behind the shield. But deep inside, the alliance’s leaders knew that the barrier will not hold them off forever. Give or take a thousand years, the barrier will break from the Swarm’s sheer weight and numbers, and the Local Group will face death right at the face. If only a solution can be found...

“And that is the threat that faces us.”, Alexandra Nova sighed as she looked down. “The barrier is all that stands between us and total destruction. We know deep inside that it is not eternal. If only a solution can be found...”

by **The Empire of Tau** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 9:09 pm

The Nightmare that is a Mob

Alucard, for all he could try, could not think of what hellish nightmare he is in. While Alucard ponded, an old women, a grandma if you will, came behind Alucard. “Ah! Another visitor. It been a while since the last person that arrived here.” the old lady says, standing in Alucard's periphery. The old lady wore a hooded gray-yellow-ish attire with a wooden walking staff to support her standing. You can visibly see her skin, all wrinkled and dry, along with the constant shaking brought by old age. “The name is simply Grandma, nothing more than that.” says old woman cogger. While she talked, you could feel sufficient warmth, given the cold climate, radiating from her body. “See that castle? It used to house Dracula, but he’s gone now. The last person that was here killed him.” Grandma explains, pointing to the massive stone structure.

As Grandma talking away, there would be a gathering of a mob that would be approaching the two from afar. “Ah, our conversation was just getting started. Oh well, I wish you luck, dear.” Grandma says with sigh, instantly disappearing without a trace. The mob inches closer and closer, pitchforks, swords, and melee weapons of all sorts would be seen in their hands. Yet for a mob, they appear to be completely quiet in their march. Behind Alucard, there was a massive wooden barricade that was not here before. The blocks of housings that sandwiched Alucard had their windows and doors barricaded. The mob, from the looks of it, appeared to be not that packly dense. There was decent gap between each disfigured individual. For now, there is a single path to follow. A path leading to some Angry people.

by **Aeternabilis** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:32 pm

War of Flesh and Metal; Cairo, Egypt

Marcus shrugged at Bradley. "You know as much as we do, man. We're not gonna learn anything more just sitting around here. Unless you have super-hearing and understand Arabic, which I kinda doubt, I'd say your best bet for info is to come with us. There's bound to be a general or somebody who can catch us up. Probably." Alex then looked at the Trolls and Violet. "I knew we could count on you two," she said to Hersel and Venera, giving the trolls an appreciative smile. She had been fighting with them for some time now, ever since they arrived in her session of Sburb, and she was glad to have them on this. Aside from Marcus, she probably trusted them the most in this world. "Heroics aside, I can't imagine Ven passing up the opportunity for a fight, and there's no way Hersel would let her go in alone. And, Violet, that's plenty enough helping for me. Anything's better than just sitting here. As for your stuff," Alex continued, looking at Violet's luggage. This girl seemed a little odd to Alex, in part because despite what her appearance and reported career would suggest she seemed at the very least familiar with battle. Investigating that could wait for some later conversation, though. "I can hold onto it for you. It'll be safe in my sylladex, which is... uh... well, I'm not really sure how you would describe it to somebody who's never seen one. Just trust me that it'll be safe, okay?" She walked over the pile of belongings and reached an arm out over it, causing it to apparently vanish. In reality, it was transferred onto a card and stored in Alex's inventory abstraction, a process that is better to not think about. Alex smiled at Violet, saying, "See? All good. Now, we really should get going before that soldier gets too far away to follow!"

Then, the spacemen offered to give the heroes a ride on their shuttle. "I think we'll be fine, man," Marcus said, hopping into the air and apparently refusing to obey gravity's orders to come back down. He hung in the air and positioned himself semi-horizontally, angled towards where the Egyptian soldier was running off towards. "It's not that far away. If y'all wanna take the shuttle though, go ahead. We'll see ya there." With that, Marcus took off, followed closely by Alex. They flew relatively close to the ground but high enough to avoid the cars and street signs and slow enough for the others to follow on foot if they wished, following the path that the soldier had taken. Marcus kept his eyes closed for most of the flight, focusing inward on his powers of Time Sight and glancing into the past as they went to get specific directions and relaying them to Alex, who steered both of them in the right direction. This path led them a few block away to the outskirts of the city, where the soldier was rejoining his unit and preparing for battle.

The gods landed near the staging area and ran up to the soldier, causing no small number of turned heads. The soldier's mouth was agape when he saw the heroes approach. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He hissed, glancing nervously at a man in a very ostentatious uniform who was surely his commander. "All civilians are supposed to leave the city! Get out of here!" "Ah, but we're not civilians!" Marcus said in a 'gotcha' tone, tapping the Time logo on his chest. "As a matter of fact, we happen to be very powerful heroes, and we're here to help." "We know how to fight and it looks like you need all the help you can get, so we're staying." Alex added. "But, look at you!" The soldier gestured at them helplessly. "You have no weapons and you are dressed like fools. How could you help?" "We may look dumb in these outfits," Marcus agreed with a nod. "But we've also got these." Reaching into their sylladices, Alex and Marcus retrieved their arms; a shortsword, sharper than cheddar and crackling with electricity all down the hilt, and a pair of pistols with a glowing canister in place of a magazine. The soldier looked shocked and was about to say something when a siren started to blare and all of his fellow troops took up defensive positions. Out in the desert, it looked like a sandstorm was brewing. "I guess it does not matter," The soldier said in an exhausted voice, bringing his rifle up to the ready position. "Either you can fight or you will die here now. The horde is approaching."

Out beyond the city, almost enshrouded by the sand they kicked up, charged a robotic army. The vast majority were smaller, about the size of a large man, and bipedal with their heads sitting very low on their necks, almost inside the chest. They carried with them large and powerful assault rifles of an unrecognized design and charged with an inhuman speed at the city, slowing occasionally to get some deadly accurate shots off. Supporting them were a line of tank droids with very thick armor, an assortment of turrets on the exterior, and a very large artillery cannon that rained fire upon the defenders. In the far back line several large trucks carrying the mobile operations centers inched along, careful to stay out of range of the defenses while still being close enough to direct their army. Overhead, the sounds of jets could again be heard as air support closed in from the south, with both tactical bombers for close air support and fighters to engage the strange craft that claimed to come from space if they reappeared. All in all, there were around a thousand of the smaller robots and a half dozen of the heavy armor droids closing in on the city from the West, ready to utterly destroy any who dared stand in their way.

Grand Adventure; Wanderer's Ship

"Whoa, don't listen to her!" Jonah interjected, stepping between Alena and the Wanderer and causing Ivan and Ji-Yeong to give him a look. "Vhat are you doing." Ivan asked, wondering what fresh nonsense Jonah was about to bring to the table. The Heir looked over at him and stuck a finger out in a 'hold on' gesture. "We help people and be useful every day." "Vhat do you mean, 've'?" Ivan asked, cracking a grin. "It is Alena, Ji-Yeong, and I who guide our planets and help zhe people. You spend all day in your laboratory." "Hey, my work is extremely useful!" Jonah yelled. He cleared his throat. "ahem, Excuse me. Like I said, we work all day. Why not go somewhere where we can relax and have some fun? Take a day off from the Hero of This and Hero of That shtick. It's not like we have to spend every waking second working. It's not healthy!" "I do have to admit, a day or two off might be nice," Ji-Yeong said slowly, ignoring the look that Ivan was giving beside her. "It is not easy being a goddess. We can halt the heroics for a short time and not have the worlds fall into chaos, right?"

by **Menschenfleisch** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:59 am

Grand Adventure | Tone

Valerian rolled his eyes at the suggestion that the posse travel to save the world. Whichever worlds they saved, whichever places they went, there'd be a million more. The butterfly effect held true, after all. He knew from personal experience that saving one man might doom another ten. But he had to admire her confidence, and her enthusiasm. He reminisced on those early days. When he thought himself a hero, and travelled the world, vanquishing evil and saving people from whatever ailed them. A homely time. A more cosy, welcoming universe.

"Well! I'd usually be inclined to say yes, we should go save a world; but today, we're following our esteemed guide. He is, after all, the one who knows best. But let me tell you from personal experience, young lady, that no matter what you do, no matter how many people you save; the world just keeps on coming. Coming and coming, until you're worn down. It's important to take a break sometimes, you know? To get back on your feet, to fight another day. I think your friends have the right idea here. Let's venture the stars, and take in the view."

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn and Kyle

Jacquelyn wasn't one for thinking, but she was one for talking, and twirling a bit of Radiant light between her fingers. Kyle, with a bit of a sigh, took the Astra from under his coat, and laid it on a table. It was probably by chance that nobody had bothered to ask him why there was such a large lump beneath his tailcoat. He could only hope it wouldn't get stolen. Both she and Kyle followed Elizabeth to the first floor, shuffling through winding corridors and bleak doorways. Kyle spoke first.

"So... You coming along nicely? I'm honestly pretty confused about this whole mess, but... This place doesn't seem to different to home, in a weird sort of way. Feels like I've been here forever. A dreary, rainy town."
"Yeah, well, that's just you being weird. I feel the same way, though. Not because of any dumb nostalgia, but, you know. 'Cause I may or may not have only just come into existence. God, I'm confused. It's like... 'Jacquelyn' is just a story. Some kind of alter ego I came up with. It's... Complicated, don't worry."
"Well, I wouldn't dream of it."

The group came to an abrupt halt in front of Elizabeth's 'car', a bit of a beat-up SUV. Kyle saw into it. Food crumbs, hand grease. Four different patterns of fingerprint. Locked, with overuse of the backseat. Someone had habitually sat back there, almost certainly a child. This wasn't Elizabeth's car. Most obviously because Kyle could literally 'see' her car just fifty metres away.

"Hey why are w-"

He was cut off by Elizabeth's sudden excuses, and by Jackie's laughing. He squinted his eyes, and peered at her heart, but... Nothing. She was telling the truth. And that left only two options. One: Elizabeth was an extremely good liar, or she was utterly absentminded. Frankly, he wasn't sure which implication was more troubling. They followed their guide to the car that actually belonged to Elizabeth, and popped in the back. The trip was fairly long, but so were the lists of things each had to come to terms with. And so, they sat in uncomfortable silence, asking themselves questions, and thinking of what they were going to do from here on out.

And before Kyle knew it, he was stumbling backward, waving the smell of alcohol away from his nose. This forger drank even more than Elizabeth... Somehow. Oh, his liver wasn't doing too well. The forger spoke first, pointing a finger at Kyle, and mentioning Jacquelyn's was already finished, in possibly the most offhandedly assumed way possible. She followed him to his workplace, and stood behind him.

"You've got mine ready? Hand it over, if you'd please. I want to see whether Elizabeth's praise was up to par. And besides. You seem like an interesting fellow. Living and making false identities. How'd you get into the business? Circumstance or opportunity?"

Kyle went to the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water, and taking a pack of biscuits from the cupboard. He looked back into the forger's workshop. He didn't want to disturb him and Jack. He was absolutely famished. Parched, too. The fight with Sterling hadn't been good for his nerves, nor the several near death experiences he'd suffered. Still. Jacquelyn's healing mojo did wonders. He wandered into the lounge, just in time to see Elizabeth gawping at a particularly gruesome scene on the television. He couldn't infer anything from digital media. Pixels were a hard-limit to how much information he could receive. He leaned on the couch, next to Elizabeth.

"So... Those are the people we're after, huh? Pretty gruesome. Honestly, not sure if I want any part in this whole shubang, but, hey. You're the only person who's been kind enough to help Jack, so, I kind of feel like hanging around. After we get the IDs, I'll probably find us a job. Get started on those investigations of yours. But, hey. Enough about me. What about you? What's your story, Liz? You seem pretty intelligent, and an excellent liar, at that. You drink a lot, sherry and whiskey seem to be your favourites. Beat up car, blood particles in the back seat. Tell me all about you. Why you're in the business of solving crimes."

by **Korhal IVV** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 2:41 am

Egypt, WoFaM

Soon enough, there was the sound of roaring engines as the shuttle ground to a stop near the frontline. “So this is the place.”, the Grand Admiral roll-eyed as the sensors aboard the shuttle detected a massive incoming robotic horde. “Guess it is time to strike, then.”, he said as the shuttle hovered a few feet above the ground. Jumping off, he and a few others landed on the ground with a resounding tap on the hot desert sands. Coming up near the gods, he remarked that, “You didn’t need a ride after all.”

Immediately, he drew Piercer with one of his Malefic Arrows pointed towards one of the robotic monstrosities. With a single release, it shot through the air with a scream as it slammed at its target, cutting through its power core like a needle through cloth. Wizzing with a trail of malevolent red, it returned to the Grand Admiral’s hand. He then drew it again and repeated the procedure.

“Cutting through almost anything with ease. That is the Grand Admiral for you.”, the High Starseer said as she telekinetically took hold of a total of six laser rifles prepared just for her. “Die.”, she whispered as she fired with her mind, firing bolts of solid light that sometimes diffracted away from the heavy armor of the advancing horde, but many times they met their mark perfectly.

Above, the screams of starfighters coming in from orbit was there was once again. This time, however, they were in greater numbers at thirty total, and they engaged the enemy craft at once. A terrible dogfight ensued in the skies above.

“Who and where is your commander, soldier?”, the Grand Admiral asked the Egyptian soldier from earlier. “I would like a word or two with him.”

by **Naval Monte** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:56 am

Secrets of the Raven

Tim open a drawer and took out the ID for Jackie and as he hand it to the girl he spoke, adjusting his glasses as he did so. "I rather not talk too much about my past but it's a bit of both. I had the talent that could allow me to make forger items and before I say no reason to get into this line of work but the universe had other ideas." Tim told her as he began to carefully written eerily authentic looking signatures on Kyle's ID. Jackie would see that her ID also had the shocking amount of authenticity to it as well, if she didn't knew beforehand that the papers she was hold were all lies she would believe every single words of them. She would even see that the photo used for her ID while still showing her had the background altered significantly to show a blank wall behind her.

"But that isn't exciting so maybe I can tell you somewhat behind it. I had a friend who needed to disappear back in Glasgow because he messed with the wrong gang and my gramps you see taught me how to make and spot forgeries. He was an old con-artist you see. I used what I was taught to help my friend get a new identity while he skipped town to avoid getting killed. Of course I soon had to use the same trick to get the hell out of Glasgow as well because that was the first time I figured out that there was more to my world, that there were people with freaky powers like Elizabeth. My friend thought it was a smart idea to piss off a bunch of wizards and they were itchy on ripping his soul and shoving it to a corpse to make him into their slaves and I hide in this town so they won't take their anger out on me. So for those wankers haven't found me so maybe they got bored looking for me, still not leaving this place though since I still have a steady supplies of clients who would want my talent and because I got use to living in this place even if this building isn't the most luxurious one."

The man put down the pen. "Finished." he gave the ID to Jackie. "Here you. Now I still need to get that blue hair girl who I Elizabeth's apparent "niece". Not the first time I had to give IDs to members of Elizabeth's "extended family", though she is the youngest one I had to make an ID for." Tim told her as he moved the mouse to remove the screen saver and began to edit the photo of Sayaka to remove any signs of it being taken in The Drinking Crow. "So what are you doing with Elizabeth? Do you owe her something and you got roped up into one of her schemes? If so I will be praying for you." Tim said as he kept most of his attention to the computer. Jackie and Tim would soon hear loud banging noises along with a woman and man moaning loudly. "Oh for fuck sakes." the man cursed, exasperated by the noise as he removed his glasses to rub his temple. "Just ignore my sex crazed neighbors. Normally I just put on my headphones and listen to music to drown out their moans but I only have one set." he told her as he kept working, trying to ignore the noise coming from the other side.

Back in the lounge when Kyle asked if that was their enemy Elizabeth was silent. "I'm not sure." she replied back. "I mean leaving bodies out to be found sounds like something they would do but until I can see the bodies I can't say if it's them, plus the sudden interest in genitals seems odd since all of the other victims had no injuries to their genitals. I have to wonder if the cult is really behind it why the sudden change?" she questioned, both to Kyle and herself as she began to ponder why the cult would change their M.O. so suddenly. "But this incident does fit with the fact that they keep their victims alive in their captivity before killing them and dumping their bodies so I'm thinking they most likely had those sods locked up for days and either killed them one at a time at the same day or they all perished days apart from each other before being dumped out in the woods." Elizabeth bit down on the nail of her thumb.

"Moreover those men were immigrants and are of ages were while possible for some to still be in college others would already be in the workforce so either they are now also extending who they will target or they have for some time but these guys were held by the cult much longer than the students before they ultimately die. So far this cult is very sophisticated, scarily so. No doubt people are going to piece together that there isn't just one serial killer but a group out there. One person can't kill ten men and dump their bodies out on the woods on the same day they dump the body of a university student in another part of town. Especially since the timing for it to be one person would be ludicrous as this town is rather large despite the quaint and cozy small time vibe some parts give out." Elizabeth got up and went to the kitchen, taking a mug and turning on the coffee machine.

Elizabeth waited for the machine to make her coffee as she began to pace back and forth. "I was hoping that maybe the students shared some connection with each other. Like they all went to some strange location or met with some strange person or something or maybe they were part of a group doing something they shouldn't. That maybe there something tying them together and that whatever connection they had the cult was using to kill them for their ritual. But these immigrants completely destroy my theory. Mind you, my theory was shaking at best since it has a very flimsy foundation, what with the lack of concrete evidence and all. But I'm still vexed that the cult would throw a curveball so soon." the coffee machine soon let out a ring to notify that it was done. Elizabeth took out a carton of milk and added some of it to her coffee and put in a few drops of sugar to her coffee.

Even with her mug she still kept pacing around in the lounge as her brain began to work on understanding the cult's motive. However she was so preoccupied with the cult that she only remembered the other parts to Kyle's previous sentience when she took a sip of her coffee. "Sorry about ignoring half of what you said there, just went to detective mode for a second." Elizabeth became silent as she thought how best to explain her reasoning to Kyle. "I guess you can tell I was lying back there with the car, huh? I won't go over why I went there because you won't understand it even if I told you but there is something... off, about that car." the woman stopped to take another sip of her coffee. "As for my favorite drink well I'm not too picky on what I take so long as it isn't moonshine made from some hillbillies shack." she said, shivering from the terrible memories of the time she drank moonshine that was laced with hallucinogens and the terrible trip she went through because of it.

"Yeah that old Fiesta went through hell and back but hey it's just like it's owner now so if anything it gives it character. I rather not talk much about the blood but I will say that some of it was mines. As for why I'm in the business of solving crime well if I have to be honest with you it's because I just love dealing with mysteries and strangeness, they get my blood pumping and relieve my boredom. But I didn't become a detective solely to solve ordinary crimes though. This occupation is also a cover for my other lifestyle and occupation. The one where I'm an entrepreneur of the intangible, trafficking with esoteric forces and being a member of a secret world made up of people like me and the things my kind of people deal with on a regular basis." she explained to Kyle. "Because of those two occupations I tend to use unorthodox methods for my investigations at times but I also use more mundane solutions to extraordinary problems as well." she drank down what was left of her coffee.

"I can tell that your eyes are very good kid. You can pick up stuff that no one can see, I have the same ability as well. But while our eyes can pick up details that most people easily miss but what makes us different is that your eyes can see what is present here while my eyes they can see more to the world. Or at least my world." she said cryptically. Elizabeth suddenly sensed another rift opening just close by to their location. "I also have other senses besides the normal ones and they overlap with the more natural ones. You deal with my line of work long enough and it changes you, though for me those changes came to me the moment I was born. I guess that was a cost my mom had to pay for dabbling with witchcraft or I was cursed by a god that either hated her or me." the witch said as she placed the mug down at the table. "Looks like we have yet another new arrival. Better get them before they get themselves into trouble." she told Kyle as she grabbed her umbrella. "Tell Tim I will be back to pay him for his services and you can keep on asking me more questions once I return with our new team mate." with those words she left the room.

Once she was outside again Elizabeth took out a cigarette and began to smoke it as she walked through the street of the deary and dark town. Elizabeth's eyes can wispy streams of colorful energies that at first form a nebulous cloud of energy around everyone, forming the Kirlian Aura phenomenon, before trailing off into the air and floating on the sky like an Aurora Borealis. If she was to skint she would get a brief glimpse of what appeared to be some phantasmal projection of an eldritch landscape on the sky that was within the Aurora. Elizabeth look back down at the street to avoid looking at the window into the other reality that her eyes can see.

There were other sights that Elizabeth saw. She saw a man walking by her, from his neck and chest she saw a tumorous growths slowing forming into skulls. The more she saw the energy coming off people and even objects the more she got the impression of what sort of emotions were attached to them. She even saw strange creatures out on the street that most people couldn't see or even notice if one went through or was on them. Of such creatures she saw were strange manta ray like creatures flying above the buildings, feasting on insectoid creatures that resemble the twisted fusion between wasps and scorpions, others were humanoid figures in gray robes passing along strange photos to people who can not see them; their gray and ancient arms being the only bit of flesh that was exposed by the creatures. Looking at the photos Elizabeth saw that they seem to be photos taken during a random moment of a person's life but often they would have one oddity to show that something about the photos was wrong.

On the glasses of some windows she saw white periclean heads staring at her and everyone who walked by them, their mouths moving yet no words came out and Elizabeth tried to ignore the words their lips were forming in fear for what the words would do to her sanity. Elizabeth tried to ignore the various phenomenon, creatures, and energies that her senses were picking up; focusing her mind to find the traces of the spatial-temporal rift that caused a huge disturbance to her reality and to the Azoth that was saturating the town. Elizabeth would see a tram go by and as it did so she would see a strange figure appear briefly but vanish once the tram went past her. "Just ignore it Lizzy." she whispered to herself.

When she finally found Trevor she was looking at both the man with the fancy clothing and the giant many legged, eye, and fanged spider-like creature hanging on the wall above him. But as her sixth sense was not warning her of the creature being a threat she figure that the creature was in another plane and as such was not a threat to the man or her. "Are you lost mate? I can fill you in on what is going and where you are but I'm gonna need you to follow me. What I have to say isn't something I can say out here."

by **Mundeo** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:00 pm

RESPITE

It seems this town wasn’t as empty as Alucard originally suspected. An old woman cloaked in yellow, going simply as “grandma”, approached him. The mysterious woman went on about how there hasn’t been a visitor in years, but then she said something that snatched the Dhampr’s attention:

“See that castle? It used to house Dracula...”

“Dracula?” Alucard repeated. According to the woman, Dracula was killed by the last person who went there. What was the meaning of this? Was this the future, where Trevor was successful in killing his father? He turned to ask the woman who had killed Dracula, but she had vanished. Now he had new company: an angry mob.

“So this is how they greet visitors?” Alucard quickly began to assess his situation. He might have been able to jump over all of them, but there was no telling just how far this job went. The narrow corridor formed by blockaded walls didn’t help him at all, either. It seems he only had one option: he was going to have to reciprocate the mob’s gracious greeting.

Alucard stepped forward, his hands held graciously behind his back. With one hand he drew his weapon, a long, narrow sword that glistened in the dun light. Then without any kind of telegraph, he charged forward. His movements were graceful, supernatural. He slashed in a wide arc, hewing multiple mob members in a single smooth strike.

Secrets of the Raven

"Lost?" Trevor said. In any other circumstances, he would have been extremely suspicious of some random lady who came up to him asking him to follow her. But judging from how she spoke, this woman seems to know a lot more of what's going on here than he does. He didn't really have much of a choice other than to comply, but if things went south, he knew he was well prepared. "Don't I need to know where I am to know if I'm lost? But sure, I'll follow you, for whataver reason"

Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

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